Murdoch pie thrower has no regrets over stunt

The comedian who was jailed for throwing a foam pie at Rupert Murdoch has
insisted he has no regrets over the stunt and claimed the incident made his
life “more interesting”.

Rupert and James Murdoch at the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee in 2011Photo: BBC

7:24AM BST 23 Apr 2012

Jonathan May-Bowles, 27, was jailed for six weeks, reduced on appeal to four, for assaulting the 81-year-old media tycoon as he gave evidence to the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee last July.

The activist, also known by his stage name Jonnie Marbles, said the MPs' questioning of Mr Murdoch had been "ineffectual" but believes the Leveson Inquiry will provide a "much more vigorous analysis".

Mr Murdoch and his son James are set to appear at the inquiry, held at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, to give evidence this week.

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Asked if he was happy to be known for the rest of his life as "the man who pied Rupert Murdoch", he replied: "I will do something else ridiculous and exciting."

Mr May-Bowles said he plans to watch James and Rupert Murdoch give evidence to Lord Justice Leveson via his computer rather than queuing up for one of the public places in the hearing. He predicted that their appearances would be "much more significant" than their session in front of MPs.

He said: "Leveson has been quite robust so far. The select committee, with the exception of (Labour MP) Tom Watson, was ineffectual.

"The committee was largely grand-standing by MPs, people like (Conservative MP) Louise Mensch, who really want to make a name for themselves. She did quite a good job of that.

"I think you will have a much more vigorous analysis of what was going on in News International and what role they played in it. I think there's a lot more scope for the Leveson Inquiry to do something really big and important."

The comedian rejected criticism that his protest at the Culture, Media and Sport Committee overshadowed a significant opportunity for public scrutiny of how the Murdochs run their media empire.

"I think it's hard to distract from something that was such a big nothing anyway. I don't particularly feel that I distracted from it," he said.